New Game Releases

Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry – Standalone will be available for the PS3 and PS4.

Earth Defense Force 2025 will be available for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

Ragnarok Odyssey Ace will be available for the PS3 and PS Vita.

Rayman Legends will be available for the Xbox One and PS4.

NASCAR ’14 will be available for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes: Universe in Peril will be available for the NDS.

Skyrim and BioShock Infinite Bundle will be available for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

Strider will be available for the PS3 and PS4.

Wednesday, February 19th

Strider will be available for the Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC.

Strider will be available (in UK) for the PS3 and PS4.

Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry will be available (in UK) for the PS3, PS4 and PC.

Thursday, February 20th

Blue Eden will be available for the iPhone.

Men of War: Assault Squad 2 will be available for the PC.

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc will be available for the PS Vita.

Retro City Rampage: DX will be available for the 3DS.

Friday, February 21st

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze will be available for the Wii U.

Rayman Legends will be available (in UK) for the Xbox One and PS4.

Earth Defense Force 2025 will be available (in UK) for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

Rambo: The Video Game will be available for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

YS: Memories of Celceta will be available for the PS Vita.

Sorcery Saga: The Curse of the Great Curry God will be available for the PS Vita.

Go! Go! Nippon! – My First Trip to Japan will be available for the PC.

Borderlands 2

Last DLC announced

On April 15th the final DLC for Borderlands 2, titled Sir Hammerlock vs. the Son of Crawmerax, will be released. This fifth Headhunter DLC will take place on an abandoned island resort where Sir Hammerlock has been kidnapped. The Vault Hunters are charged with rescuing him using a new type of varkid to track him. There will also be a new raid boss to battle, the last boss battle of the game.

Released in September 2012, 18 months have passed leaving Sir Hammerlock vs the Son of Crawmerax to close the game. During that time four campaign expansions were part of the Borderlands 2 Season Pass with two new classes and two Upgrade Packs which brought the level cap up from 50 to 72. Borderlands 2 will make its way to the PS Vita sometime this spring.

Destiny

Bungie reveals new vehicle

Bungie recently revealed one of the personal mounts you will be able to ride in their upcoming shooter Destiny. The Shrike vehicle, according to Bungie, is “sleek, nimble, and fast – a worthy mount for any hero who risks life and limb to explore the lost settlements of our Golden Age.”

Tom Doyle, Bungie’s artist, explained that “The ability to summon a vehicle on demand turns you and your friends into a futuristic biker gang. Getting from point A to point B should be fun… not a menu option.”

Initially the Shrike will come in one of three color schemes, depending upon your character class (Hunter, Titan or Warlock). You will be able to upgrade and modify it over time.

As we near Destiny’s September launch date, Bungie will be revealing more of the vehicles the game will have to offer. The game will be available for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3 and PS4.

Lord of Ultima

Shutting down after four years

On May 12th, the browser-based MMO Lord of Ultima will close for good at about 7am UTC. Lord of Ultima has been around for about four years now. Ophidian, the forum community manager relayed the news stating, “It pains us to inform you that the final days of Caledonia are drawing near… It is always hard when we are met with such choices and the decision to retire older games is never an easy one.”

As a thank you to their players and in an effort to make its final days of play enjoyable, the developers are giving away a code which can be redeemed for four free ministers. The code is: GZFS-BKFR-LUXS-V36S.

In addition, the developers are looking into options to speed progression on newer worlds. Those worlds are a bit farther from seeing the endgame. There is no option, however, to receive a refund for the money you may have spent in-game. If you currently have a balance of the Play4Free funds (the in-game currency) you are encouraged to spend it before the final shutdown. You will no longer be able to purchase Play4Free funds and new registration has been cut off.

Call of Duty: Ghosts

Captain Price on his way

According to a recent Infinity Ward Twitter tease, Modern Warfare’s Captain Price will be making an appearance in Call of Duty: Ghosts. On February 12th, Infinity Ward tweeted, “Price is Coming #CODGhosts pic.twitter.com/2fQzScCVnV”

The image that was tweeted Price is pictured on the multiplayer map Stonehaven, which suggests that he will be joining the roster as a downloadable multiplayer skin.

On February 13th Infinity Ward tweeted “New #CODGhosts customization options arriving Tuesday February 18th, 2014, more info: http://bit.ly/1jCbIN4 pic.twitter.com/jjZNqAwm1L” With the image showing the Space Cats Personalization Pack. It is not known if Captain Price will arrive within that skins pack or at a later date.

Xbox One Remote

Media remote leaked

A number of regional Amazon sites has shown an official Xbox One Media Remote, supposedly ahead of any official reveal. While the listing has since been removed, it had been listed for release on March 4th at a cost of about $23.00. Both Amazon UK and Amazon Italy listings had it releasing on April 4th.

As one could deduct from the name, the remote will let you navigate the media functions of the Xbox One. Currently you can only control those functions through the Xbox One controller or Kinect. The Media Remote will be an option especially for those who choose not to use Kinect.

Titanfall

Xbox One Patch

At the request of the Titanfall development team at Respawn, Microsoft is patching the Xbox One’s controller so that it is less “twitchy.” Justin Hendry, Titanfall’s design lead, explained that the studio felt the controller needed modification if it was to work properly and get the most out of the game. “It’s just fixing the controller input, really. It wasn’t really where we felt it should be; it was a little overly twitchy with the current controls. Now it’s fixed. We’re happy with it.”

The controller’s update increases the thumbsticks’ sensitivity by increasing the sensitivity of their outer boundaries. The update will be part of the console’s February update, automatically taking effect when your Xbox One controller is synced with the console.

Respawn is supposedly also working with Microsoft to improve the upscaler which is used fo games that are rendered at sub 1080p-resolutions. This may explain why the recent Titanfall beta messed with the game’s resolution. It isn’t known yet if this is specifically for Titanfall or if it will help other titles as well.

Titanfall is scheduled to release on March 11th for the Xbox One and PC. The Xbox 360 version has been delayed a bit until March 25th.

Final Fantasy XV

Development given high priority

According to Square Enix, Final Fantasy XV’s development is being given high priority and is coming along nicely. Yoshinori Kitase, the series producer, explained, ”We can’t give too much information but certainly looking at Final Fantasy XV, it’s not as if it’s in competition with Kingdom Hearts III for resources or anything like that.” He added that, “It’s quite far into development now and it is being given a very high priority within the company itself, but that doesn’t mean Kingdom Hearts isn’t.”

Keeping true to what has been heard in the past from Square Enix, Kingdom Hearts III will be released some time before Final Fantasy XV. Tetsuya Nomura is the project lead on both games and can’t focus on both at the same time if quality is expected.

No release window has yet to be announced for Final Fantasy XV, although we do know that it will be available for the Xbox One and the PS4.

Angry Birds Stella

New Angry Birds game announced

Angry Birds Stella is a new game in the Angry Birds universe recently announced by Rovio. According to Rovio, Stella and her friends are “a group of feisty characters with a shared love for fun, adventure and creativity”.

The game’s story will take “fans to parts of the Angry Birds world we’ve never seen before. Angry Birds Stella is all about inspiration, empowerment and other real issues, without forgetting entertainment and quirky fun.”

However, Angry Birds Stella promises to be more than a game, developer Rovio states its “a wide range of entertainment across multiple media, such as games, animation, toys, books and other retail products for many years to come.”

According to Mikael Hed, Rovio’s CEO, ”Angry Birds Stella is breaking the mold by introducing strong, passionate characters who really stand for something, while adding plenty of action and reality into the mix. The Angry Birds Stella story will live and evolve across physical and digital, bridging them in fun and innovative ways. Stella and her friends are here to stay, with plenty of adventures ahead of them.”

So for Angry Bird fans, this sounds like it should be a “must have” for your collection.

BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea Episode 2

The following may contain spoilers .. or not

In the second chapter of BioShock Infinite’s Burial at Sea DLC, two more characters from the BioShock universe will be making their appearance.

Columbia rebel leader Daisy Fitzroy and Rapture creator Andrew Ryan will both be making an appearance in the final chapter of the DLC campaign, which is supposed to be much longer. It is also known that Andrew Ryan will have a bigger part to play in this chapter.

In addition to Fitzroy and Ryan, naughty man Atlas will join protagonist Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth. Ken Levine, chief of Irrational Games, has stated that this final chapter of Burial at Sea will end the story of both the DLC campaign and BioShock Infinite.

Expect to see BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea Episode 2 released on March 25th for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

Steam Tags

New tagging system introduced

Valve recently launched a beta for a new tagging feature on its Steam platform called Steam Tags. The feature lets you add text tags to individual games and software on their Steam Store page. The tags can then be used to browse the Steam Store, which is why users are being asked to tag entries with both genres and descriptive attributes.

As one might expect, there have been some unusual tags surfacing since the feature’s introduction. There are times when people come together and do wonderful things, then there are times when they come together and do silly, terrible things. With regards to the tag feature, we appear to have a mixture of both. Remember, this system is supposed to help people find games. Some of the tags that have been added by users are downright mean spirited, and some just offer up spoilers for the game.

For users who don’t agree with tags that have become associated with a certain title, Valve gives explanation within their FAQ section, saying, “Tags can be a good indicator of when there is a mismatch between how you perceive your game, and how your game is perceived by customers. Often, this is simply because there is some piece of information regarding the game that customers feel is missing from the store page.” Apparently Valve wasn’t expecting its Steam users to get ugly while using the feature.

Valve will be collecting feedback from users during this beta stage. If the system is going to work properly, it is clear it will need a few tweaks or at the very least a few moderators. There hasn’t yet been an announcement regarding when the tagging feature will officially launch.

NBA Jam

New Jam teased but unauthorized

Apparently the official NBA Jam Twitter account had posted a tweet saying “Retweet if you’re ready for a new NBA Jam!” However, it appears that Tweet was removed rather quickly, I can find no trace of it. An EA Sports spokesperson had recently stated that the company has no plans to announce a new NBA Jam game at this time and, “Yesterday, there was unauthorized use of the @nbajam Twitter handle.”

The most recent entry in the NBA Jam series was in 2010, a follow-up titled NBA Jam On Fire Edition was released the following year. Fans hope it won’t be much longer before the Next NBA Jam arrives, but it isn’t looking all that promising at the moment.

Hitman Go

Whole new game for mobile

Square Enix recently announced that the Hitman franchise is expanding into a new genre. Hitman Go is their new turn-based strategy game for smartphones and tablets. According to the Square Enix Montreal team they had “total creative freedom” to make a new Hitman game, so they decided on a mobile game. The developer states that Hitman Go will retain the “essence” of the Hitman series while giving fans something new and different.

The developer states that Hitman Go plays across “beautifully rendered diorama-style setpieces.” You will strategically navigate through fixed spaces on a grid as you attempt to take out your enemies or infiltrate strongholds. “You really have to think about each move and all the Hitman tools of the trade you would expect are included: disguises, distractions, sniper rifles, and even 47’s iconic Silverballers.”

Apparently the game is nearly ready to launch, however, Square Enix hasn’t stated when it will release or if it will be a paid or free-to-play game.

Dark Souls II

Black Armor Weapons Pack announced

If you have the Black Armor or Collector’s Edition of Dark Souls II, you can redeem the code within for a bevy of weapons and shield which you can use from the very start. If you don’t have those editions of the game, no worries, all of the weapons and shield will be available to find in the game.

Because both the original Dark Souls and Demon’s Souls tended to throw gamers unprepared and for the most part unarmed into a hostile environment, the Black Armor Weapons Pack allows you some security as you try to figure out the lay of the land in Dark Souls II.

If you don’t want to know where to find these items, don’t read any further.

The Black Armor Weapons Pack includes the Black Flamestone Dagger and Black Flamestone Parma, a dagger and shield, both found in the Gutter at Black Gulch. The dagger is very sharp and the shield is very resistant to damage. The Yellow Quartz Longsword and Yellow Quartz Shield can be found at the bottom of the Iron Keep. Both are hardened by the yellow quartz, however, they can easily be broken but are light and can inflict some damage. The Hound Hand Axe and Bound Wooden Shield, a brutal axe and shield found in the Undead Purgatory. Both items are wrapped in chains and thorns to cause added damage to your enemy. The Homunculus Mace and Homunculus Wooden Shield can be found in Aldia’s Keep. The mace and shield are heavier than normal and have spherical protrusions which increases attack and defense power. Transgressor’s Staff and Transgressor’s Leather Shield are entwined with an unknown element which cause an effect known as Darkness. These items can be found in the Dark Chasm of Old.

Dark Souls II will release on March 11th for the Xbox 360 and PS3. The PC version of the game is expected to release sometime thereafter.